Data from a study on childhood adversity reveals a clear correlation between the number of adverse events experienced and telomere length in adulthood. Individuals with zero adversities had an average telomere length of about 6.6 kilobase pairs. For those with one adversity, the length was approximately 6.4 kilobase pairs. For individuals who experienced more than one adversity, the average telomere length was shorter, at around 5.9 kilobase pairs.

Google

A large-scale study of over 4,000 women aged 41–80 revealed that adverse experiences in childhood, such as physical abuse or parental divorce, were associated with shorter telomere length in adulthood. The study also found a dose-response relationship, where telomere size decreased as the number of adverse childhood experiences increased.

Cumulative Childhood Adversity and Telomere Shortening in Adulthood

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

Learn Before

Related